title: Patterns of management and surveillance imaging amongst medical oncologists in Australia for stage I testicular cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the patterns of management and surveillance imaging amongst medical oncologists in Australia for stage I testicular cancer during 2010.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a survey comprising 14 questions about the management strategy and surveillance imaging for all patients with stage I testicular cancer treated over the previous 12 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 52 medical oncologists documented the management for an estimated 470 patients. For seminoma, management was in the form of surveillance in 33%, radiotherapy in 5% and adjuvant carboplatin in 62% of patients. For non-seminoma, management was surveillance in 73%, adjuvant chemotherapy in 23% and retroperitoneal lymph node dissection in 4% of patients. The frequency of surveillance imaging was highly variable, and ≥10 computed tomography (CT) scans were used by 38% of clinicians for seminoma and 46% of clinicians for non-seminoma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found considerable variation in management patterns. The infrequent use of surveillance and frequent use of carboplatin for seminoma differs from international guidelines. Radiation exposure from CT imaging should be reduced through standardized follow-up protocols, and possibly by alternate imaging methods if validated in appropriate studies.
authors.affiliation: Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate (ANZUP) Cancer Trials Group Ltd, Sydney, NSW, Australia. peter.grimison@sydney.edu.au
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grimison
authors.forename: Baerin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Houghton
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chatfield
authors.forename: Guy C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Toner
authors.forename: Ian D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Jarad
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hovey
authors.forename: Martin R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Stockler
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008495:Medical Oncology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011159:Population Surveillance; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018239:Seminoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed